The workers at Cold Lake Graveyard were more accurately defined as corpse retrievers.
Unlike Seven-Day Graveyard, which had seven separate zones, with each graveyard governed by different rules,
there was only one main graveyard here—Cold Lake. The graveyards along the surrounding shores were merely used to store "defective products," and their requirements were not particularly strict.
However, as the core of the graveyard, Cold Lake itself had relatively complicated rules.
First came the division of zones:
In the Outer Ring, where the lake's temperature was greater than or equal to -10°C, burials and corpse retrieval could be carried out at any time of day.
In the Middle Ring, where the lake's temperature ranged from -10°C to -30°C, related work was restricted to 00:00–07:00.
In Inner Heart, the area at the center of the lake where the temperature was below -30°C, working hours were limited to 00:00–02:00.
There was also a series of rules related to the lake:
1. The use of any lighting equipment was prohibited. If signs of ice forming on the lake's surface were discovered, a kerosene lamp or torch could be used to disperse it. Once the ice disappeared, the light source had to be extinguished immediately.
2. If a hand reached out of the lake while rowing, tie the Black Rope provided on the boat to its ring finger. The arm would return to the lake on its own.
If the finger already had a Black Rope tied around it, the outstretched hand was expressing "friendliness." All that was needed was to high-five it, and the arm would sink.
The above interaction had to be completed. Otherwise, the arm would continue following the boat and might eventually attack the hull.
3. If floating debris was discovered in the lake, it had to be caught with a